Sarah Wittenberg felt compelled to help when she heard her grandmother talk about a charity that
provides access to clean water to people in developing countries and disaster areas.

The eighth-grader took the idea to the youth director at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Grove
City. And on Sunday, after months of research and preparation, she’ll kick off the congregation’s
Lenten campaign to encourage others to make donations to Water Missions International.

Other youths in the congregation helped Sarah, 14, label water bottles and donation envelopes.
Pastors at the church are planning Lenten sermons around the theme of water in the Bible.

The project is one of many happening around central Ohio during Lent, the six-week period
leading to Easter that started on Wednesday. The season tasks Christians with praying, fasting and
giving to the poor. Also a time of sacrifice, many Christians choose to give up a food or habit in
self-denial, while others are inspired to give through service.

“What Lent does for us is it causes us to step back, take a look at our life and what we can do
better. And helping others is part of that,” said Bill Sparks, president of the Society of St.
Vincent de Paul.

Sparks said Lent is “a close second” to the Christmas season when it comes to giving. Donations
increase and some churches and groups hold drives for the society’s Downtown clothing-distribution
center for the poor, he said.

Some examples of other projects happening this year:

• Vineyard Columbus on the Northeast Side will have a one-day “Serve Columbus” event on April
12. Teams will partner with Keep Columbus Beautiful to pick up litter in several neighborhoods and
paint, landscape and clean up at schools, parks and shelters. The church also plans to pack 500
sack lunches to be distributed to the underprivileged.

• At St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Delaware, members make donations to a charity selected by
the winner of a “Lent Madness” competition, with a bracket akin to the NCAA Tournament, said the
Rev. Charles Wilson, rector. The bracket lists names from the denomination’s Calendar of Saints.
Participants learn about saints and vote for them to narrow the field to the Saintly 16, Elate
Eight and Faithful Four. The last one remaining earns the Golden Halo.

• At Meadow Park Church of God, with campuses on the Northwest Side and in Powell, members are
collecting food for the poor in bins marked with the names of different pastors, said spokeswoman
Cindy Heath. The pastor whose bin collects the most items by Palm Sunday will give a video
testimony on Facebook. On April 8, the church hosts Lower Lights Ministries’ Garments of Praise
fashion show to benefit the Rachel’s House program that helps women recently released from
prison.

• St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Church has a Lenten “Giving Gratitude” project, said the
Rev. Virginia Lohmann Bauman, senior pastor of the United Church of Christ congregation Downtown.
Participants share something they are thankful for each day, either in person, with a note, in a
church journal, on Facebook or on colored strips of paper that will be turned into an Easter
Gratitude Tree. The practice “is designed to foster a greater sense of thankfulness, generosity,
and peace in a world that has become a desert of ingratitude,” Bauman said.

Rachel Lustig, president of Catholic Social Services, said some churches sponsor Lenten drives
similar to giving-tree programs during Advent, when people buy specific items for others in need.
She said a wish list during Lent asks for supplies for the charity’s Pathways to Hope program that
helps domestic-violence victims move from a shelter into homes.

“Lent is a period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, where we really think about our
relationship with God and how we might have stepped out of the perfect relationship,” Lustig said. “
How can we better strengthen our relationship with God? ... Part of the way we do that is helping
out our neighbors in need.”

Sarah Wittenberg said the water project at St. John’s Lutheran hasn’t been hard and didn’t take
long to put together. Plus, she said, she has had lots of support and help.

“I’ve enjoyed doing it, and I think it’s really going to help a lot of people,” she said.